Lambert went to his friend Nicole's birthday party!

Amy is NOT in the Hospital - The Aftermath.

Well, Amy has been home for two days now and we are getting used to the medication routine. They gave her two weeks of IV style medication that she has to administer to herself twice a day. The IV medication comes in little jars with rubber bladders in them. The bladders are pressurized with air and medication and she insterts the medication into her line and then the jar power feeds the medication to her body. There are two types of medications (both antibiotics) that take about two hours (they have preset flow rates) to administer. She tucks those jars into a fanny pack, runs the line through her shirt, and the kids don't even know she is getting medicine. It makes things almost normal.

This morning we went to Target to get Max clothes for picture day tommorow and then went to lunch at Super Salad!. It made Amy tired, but not exhausted and after a nap she seems to be doing fine. She is caughing a lot less and sounds better to me than she has in the last six weeks.

What they figure happened was this. She had a form of bronchitus for about four weeks before she got the virus that I had last week. After she puked her guts up the bornchitus spread and with her being sick and exhausted she simply developed pneumonia. We caught it at its very early stages and thus it hasn't been too tough of a recovery. Yes, three weeks of antibiotics and a week in the hospital is MILD pneumonia. It is not to be messed with.

I want also to name names if I can. I want to thank many people for all the help in person. My BFF Jason for doing what men don't do, Matt and Laura for bailing us out and letting me get to work, Susan for covering us with Lambert's ARD, Krissy and Carol for covering us yesterday when Lambert went to a birthday party (see above), and many others for offering to help, checking up on us, and visiting Amy in the hospital.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Amy is NOT in the Hospital - Day Five.

Well, today was another normal day in the life of dad this week. Got the kids ready, dropped them off, went grocery shopping, put the groceries away, went to school, gave a talk on leadership at a leadership conference, picked the kids back up at school and brought them home... all before 2pm.

What was not normal, for this week atleast, was that Amy was waiting for us at home! They had put a cathedar in her this morning and she was allowed to come home. Ofcourse, no sooner did she get home she had to go right back to the doctor to get an course of antibiotics from the doctor - but atleast she will be able to come home after that.

They are thinking that another three days of IV antibiotics and then she will be done with that portion of her treatment and can simply take a course of oral antibiotics.

She has scheduled herself as having all next week off from work and this should be enough time to allow her to rest and get better.

Hopefully this ordeal is coming to a close and I can go back to being a co-parent.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Amy's in the Hospital - Day Four.

After getting up this morning at 6:30 am (usual time for the Lambert Alarm to go off by counting to ten in Spanish at the top of his lungs and he lays by his bedroom door with his mouth up to the door crack) making breakfast, getting the kids ready for school, packing their lunches, getting myself ready, checking all my students e-mails ("Can you give me another syllabus I used page four as a rolling paper last night?"), cleaning up poopy diapers AFTER you have the dressed and so on we headed off to school. I dropped the kids off to school and headed to work.

My mind, as you can imagine was on about twelvety billion other things that needed to get done today when I noticed one of the Village People standing in my way and waving for me to pull over. I guess the construction worker Village person would not have surprised me much or the biker Village person (now don't get me wrong - the Indian Chief rocking the full head dress would have gotten a double take) but the cop Village person wearing the full on knee boots and Ponch and John style helmet threw me off a little bit that early in the morning.

I honestly almost ran him over when I realized that it was not a throw back from a 70's bad gone wrong nor was he waving me to join the Y-M-C-A but actually a cop that wanted to talk to me. I thought to myself. 'You have got to be fucking kidding me...' and complied to the well booted mans request. His partner ('7 Mary 4' I think was his name) walked up to my car and said "Sir, we asked you to stop because you were doing 43 in a 30 MPH zone - are heading to some emergency?" Now, I know that that is actually a rhetorical question but I figured I had nothing to loose and decided to tell him how my week was going.

"Well officer, my wife is in the hospital with pneumonia and I was just dropping my kids off at day care and rushing to work and... (7 minutes later) ... and my inner child wept when my Dad spanked me one time when I was four and... (another 4 minutes later) and I have problems with authority figures and I guess that about catches you up."

He looked right at me and said "Why don't you just go on to work and.. try to slow down a little."

He didn't even ask to see my license or view the bodies in the trunk. I was honest to God, free to go after getting nailed in a speed trap. I guess the truth does set you free sometimes.

Anyway, after work I picked the kids up, got them down for their nap, met Susan at our house (who watched the kids and beat the crap out of Lambert's Red Rock em, Sock em Robot while they played) and went to Lamberts ARD. This was the meeting to decide what care he would receive for his speech and language issues. We decided on a course of action and I got home about 5pm. We went and had dinner at Mom's room and I got the kids home to bed about 7:30.

Amy got news tonight that she should be coming home Friday. They are going to put a different IV in her so that she can receive her antibiotics that way and she should be home by mid afternoon! THANK GOD! It will be great to have her at home. It has become REALLY hard to properly beat the kids when I cannot yell to Amy 'THAT'S IT! HOLD 'EM!!!' Besides, the few blows to the solar plexus that Lambert has been getting almost makes him run away so fast that I spill my Milwaukee’s Best. I could use some help.

Tomorrow I am the keynote speaker at a leadership conference at school (Man, are they dumb) and I am hoping that Amy can pick the kids up from school!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Amy in the hospital - Day three

Well, for every step forward in the process, I swear we take two steps back. Amy's white blood count is back to normal, she is eating well, sleeping well, and reacting well to her medication. However, there are no oral equivilants to her IV medication due to her alergies and thus they want to keep her on IV antibiotics (and in the hospital) until Saturday - at best.

The normal proceedure is to take a person off IV antibiotics once they are showing signs of improvement and send them home. That could have been tommorow had there been suitable oral equivilants to her current IV antibiotics, bur because there are none - it will be another two or three days.

This leaves Amy sitting around in the hospital wanting to come home while I run the house with two kids who desperatly want her home. The team has practice on Saturday of which I have missed two of them and it looks like I will miss another. It is frustrating. I am not frustrated at Amy ofcourse - just the situation. I hate not knowing things, and in this case I don't know when this train ride is going to end.

On a positive note - atleast I am feeling better. However, I could not find a suitable sub for my classes had to teach tonight. Matt and Laura came over and watched the boys for us and I went to class. They have helped out a ton and we really appreciate it.

Lambert missed his nap today and was breaking all the rules he knows he should not break. Throwing things, pinching and pushing his brother and so on. He is tired and frustrated with all the change too.

Maxwell's rash is getting better but his tooth will need to be looked at. He fell a few weeks back and one of his front teeth are turning grey. I was hoping it would get better - but I fear it will need to be pulled. We will have two gap smile kids.

Tommorow I have lunch bunch in 'Lunch Bunch' at thier school allowing me to teach my classes but it just gives me enough time to drop them off, run to work, run home and pick them up. Susan is coming over at 3pm to watch the kids as I run to Lambert's ARD. This meeting will help us to decide what care Lambert will recieve in his speech therapy and so on. It is our thoughts that he does not need speech therapy where at KAPP where he is recieving it. We will see.

I have to make the boys lunches for tommorow and try to get some sleep.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Amy's in the Hospital - Day Two - Part Two.

Well, it is 11:14 pm and I cannot sleep. Today was not only a job but an adventure. I didn't realize Army cliche's could come in so handy - but today they do.

I went and taught my classes (starting at 10 am) but I could tell I was getting worse by the minute. At 12:40 (I let my class out 10 minutes early) I went to the bathroom and proceeded to puke up my toenails. It was NOT pretty. You know how there is a difference from just normal 'I have had too much to drink' vomiting and viral vomit from the depths of your soul style vomit? Well, I saw things come up in those 20 minutes that had not been seen since the Watergate.

The good news was that although I was vomiting in a public place I made up for this public digression by directly sitting down and peeing out of my buttocks for some 10 minutes. I thought the encore was needed as I had not managed to get the door to the handicap stall closed and I figured my adoring fans needed a better show.

So, after ten minutes or so, vomit still cascading down my shorts, I walked out of Cy-Fair college (a much lighter man) and went to go pick up the kids. I got them home and watching the 'tube' (Super Why is a savior) and proceeded to rock a mad part deux in our bathroom.

It is always a great feeling when you still have drips of vomit hanging from your nose to answer the onslaught of questions from a three year old.

"Yes, Lambert Daddy is throwing up."

"Yes, he is sick."

"Yes, he is sick sick like mommy."

"Yes, Lambert Daddy is still throwing up."

"No, Lambert we do not know what quarks are made of. Some think they are made of tiny bits of vibrating energy called strings..."

I washed my hands about eleventy billion times today in the hopes of not spreading my germs. My father tells me that God only gives me what I can handle.... I told him that I can CERTAINLY handle less and this pushing the envelope shit is getting old.

If the kids get back what I had today - it will go south in a hurry.

My GREAT and TRUE friend Jason came over and managed the kids for me tonight. The kids LOVE uncle Jason and he took GREAT care of me and the kids. He changed a nasty shitty diaper that Lambert thought would be the appropriate gift to give at a time like this and even bathed Max (who was not happy due to his rash). He is a great man.

I went to bed at about 8pm and woke up about an hour ago after breaking my fever. I feel 100% better. Not that I am 100% but I can function.

Hopefully it stays away and I can get back to sleep soon.

Let me give an update on Amy since most of you have probably skimmed down to this part anyway to read about my sicker half.

She has not had a fever today and the X-Ray from this morning looks much clearer. She thinks they may let her go home on Thursday.

Frankly we need her here. The hookers have trashed the place and if I have to attempt to clean up one more crack burn off the carpet I am going to go insane.

I will check on her tomorrow and if I feel up to it drop off some clothes. The hospital actually called with that request and said that she is getting kind of ripe and some of the older patients are complaining. What can you do?

Amy's in the hospital - Day Two.

Amy is still in the hospital and they are still shooting for a release date of Thursday or Friday. The doctor is vague, as usual, and they just keep saying 'hopefully by the end of the week'.

She is still on IV antibiotics. She has been on three IV antibiotics since Sunday. They moved her from three IV antibiotics to two IV and one oral today. That is another good sign.

Amy had a very low grade fever last night but has not had one since then. They seem very short in duration and getting lesser and lesser in terms of severity (although she never had a fever much over 102 degrees the entire time).

They still have her on blood thinners as a preventative measure and are performing X-Ray's daily.

The bad news is that I am feeling sick (stomach and bowels are upset) and I am hoping that does not turn into anything more serious. Mostly I am just tired and wishing I had a break - but being a full time dad, full time professor, and full time homemaker is kicking my ass. The kids had the pukes and the re-run's for a week before Amy went into the hospital and then Amy had them for nearly a week. So, we are on week three of people being sick. I have managed to avoid it until now but it looks like the Fates no longer are shining on my health any longer. Super Dad powers... getting weaker... must... find... cure...

Remind me not to become a single parent any time soon and also to give my single parents a break when they are late with their assignments.

Maxwell has developed some sort of rash / irritation on his right thigh that could be diaper rash from the chronic diarrhea he has had due to the antibiotics we have had him and Lambert on. I am hoping it is just a rash and am treating it as such. I can tell it irritates him greatly and I am hoping to spare a trip to doctor with two kids and feeling like I am going to puke at anytime. He is in good spirits otherwise and seems to be taking the absense of Mom well.

Lambert is fighting me on many things, is getting more tired (I think he misses Mom putting him to bed) and has essentially given up on peeing in the potty. I think this regression is normal with change and certainly is normal for Lambert. I am beginning to think he will go straight from pull-ups to Depends and never be potty trained. I hope his prom date doesn't mind his soggy pants. Perhaps he is the lost member of the the 'Soggy Bottom Boys'. Tough to tell. He is generally in a good mood but you can tell he misses Mom.

On a good note - Micky seems healthy and happy - so that is good.

Sorry for a downer today - I will keep you all updates when I know more.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Amy is in the Hospital!

Friends and Family. Amy has been admitted to Memorial Herman Katy Hospital.

Diagnosis:

Single pneumonia.

Prognosis:

With treatment she should could come home Thursday or Friday.

Treatment:

She is currently on three antibiotics and an IV. She also had a blood thinner for a time to prevent blood clots. But the took her off blood thinners and off heart monitors today. Her white blood count was 2500 (very high) when they admitted her and today it is 1200 or so (which is close to normal). This is a very good sign. It means that the infection seems to be getting under control.

She had another X-Ray this morning and they see that the infection does not seem to be getting any greater in size or severity. The initial X-Ray technition almost missed the spot on her lungs because it is very slight. This is also a good sign. It is in the lower lobe of her left lung.

She has been caughing up a LOT of mucus and some of it is streaked with blood. This is fairly normal and is to be expected but is something to watch.

Feelings:

It is very odd for our generation to ever be admitted to the hospital. Thus it seems odd to have your wife admitted to the hospital for any problem. It seemed to me like they are treating this too seriously. I felt like this was silly and going to be very expensive for no reason. I am sure this is a typically male response and one that comes with being a father and being reponsible for taking care of a family. So I did some research and came upon this statistic that scared the shit out of me:

"Deaths from Pneumonia: 61,777 people died from pneumonia each year in the US 2001 (Deaths: Final data for 2001, NCHS, CDC)"

"Cause of death rank: 7th leading cause of death in 1999 and 2000 is "pneumonia/influenza" (CDC) "

It is nothing to mess with apperantly. I am now VERY glad they are treating this seriously and I have no problem with how long they are keeping her.